WRC Sardinia: Dominant Tanak ends victory drought, Rovanpera fifth

The 2019 world champion claimed nine of the 21 stages across four gruelling days, navigating through Sardinia’s famous rough gravel stages in scorching temperatures to score his first win since last February's Arctic Rally Finland by 1m03.2s from M-Sport Ford driver Craig Breen.

Following Elfyn Evans’s early exit from the lead due to a water leak on Friday, Tanak became embroiled in a fight with Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi. Tanak briefly claimed the lead after Stage 4, before dropping 0.7s adrift of the Finn heading into Saturday.

Tanak was handed a slice of good fortune as Friday’s final two stages were cancelled moments after picking up transmission issue that was set to cost him valuable time. That reprieve allowed Hyundai to resolve the issue.

Armed with a healthy i20 N on Saturday, Tanak won six of the next eight stages to reclaim the lead. His charge was also helped once Lappi crashed out of the lead on Saturday morning.

Once ahead, Tanak cruised to victory on Sunday, securing Hyundai’s first win of the season after a difficult year plagued by reliability issues with its hybrid i20 N.   

Breen emerged as Tanak’s nearest challenger as the Irishman produced his best drive of the season to date to claim his second podium of the season, equalling his career best result in the WRC.

Hyundai enjoyed a double podium as Dani Sordo claimed third for the second rally in succession, at an event he has twice been a winner, as he finished 1m33.0s adrift of team-mate Tanak. 

The Spaniard, competing in only his second event of 2022 in the third car he shares with Oliver Solberg, used his experience to navigate through difficult conditions to complete a solid points haul for Hyundai.  

M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet delivered his best